Any Dual Battery System deals on?

Forgot to mention ABR have their own prado that they have set up as you suggest.

Is it ABR or ARB!!! Chuckle.

Seems to me that the keyboard made a few mistakes . . maybe.

Phil

ABR Sidewinder. Have a website and an eBay shop.

I can recommend them. Good gear and support.

I should have mentioned, it is not so much the dual battery system you need to research, it is inner guard cracking. Inner guards cracks are a well know issue with the Prado that Toyota refuses acknowledge, you need to be very careful of how you mount the auxiliary battery though you may still have issues with both cranking battery and auxiliary batteries with regards to guard cracking if your going to do a lot of roads with server corrugations.

Good point ,ate.

We actually have an extra plate welded to the side where our third battery (yes third) is mounted back to the rear of the main battery, near the firewall with the fuel filter and Redarc isolator mounted on the side of the box that came from ARB. Excellent job with the welding and pain ting and is not really noticeable.

Phil

Problem with mine is the cranking battery, aux is in a proper battery tray and no issues with it.

Guard has cracked on the cranking battery side in two places, behind the battery and in front of it, haven't taken out the battery yet to see if the area under the battery is cracked. This is in a 2008 Prado, with around 30000Km's on the clock, yes that is correct only 30000Kms and only around 2000kms or less done on heavy corrugations!

Should also mention, car was not overloaded, tyres were deflated to as low as 20 PSI to allow for the corrugations, couldn't have gone lower if I wanted due to sand slippage generating tyre heat. Hope the Hilux is as unbreakable as Toyota advertise because the Prado sure isn't!

That's a bit of a pain. Was there a modification that you missed?

Luckily the 4WD shop that does work on our car knows what they are doing.

We have not touched the original battery mounting at all. Just isolated the drivers side one and wired the new one (third battery) in parallel with it but still isolated fully from the main system. And installed the fuse box that I mentioned. I hate messy and hard to problem solve work. Hate it like a pub without beer.

And a Redarc 200amp isolator is wired "between" between these two "banks" that allows all three to be used for cranking or winching.

We also see a local autoelectrician for wiring advice and mostly use them.

Phil

No cracking before recent trip evident, two identical Prado's on the trip, my unit towing a Vista other towing a TVAN. Both vehicles fitted with the same after market suspension setup, other car running BFG's and my unit running coopers. Other car was probably a tad heavier. Both cars have virtually same accessories installed including Toyota alloy bars, only difference with mine is I have a winch fitted to the bull bar. Other Prado was running slightly higher cold tyre pressures. Both vehicles did exactly the same trip, in convoy so more or less same speeds, my car started cracking around half way through the trip other Prado has no cracking evident. Other Prado has around 120000 on the clock so the suspension may be a bit softer due to wear but it has also covered a lot more corrugated roads. Some crack others don't, another with cracking I know of also has a winch fitted but have have read of others in stock standard form, never been of bitumen also with cracking. Have read of mine vehicles with huge cracks in firewalls and guards across there fleets. So cross your fingers and toes and hope it doesn't happen to yours!

That is a pain. Luck of the draw - I reckon!!!.

Even on the same road the driver can make a difference. Some people have a natural tendency to be gentle or easier on the car. Even though it's hard to avoid it with some tracks that we go on. For example, my wife is heaps gentler on the car than I. Yes I admit that some would say she is a better driver.Well, she was an Australian champ and is a life member of a national car club, so I would expect it to be so.

I wouldn't go any further than to say that's bad luck and get it fixed as you apparently have. Just the luck of the drawer mate.

We don't have a prado but we do have a heavy car. Used to tow but won't again. Too restrictive in many places. But we have upgraded the car with suspension mods and some air bags at the rear, to give us a bigger GVM (3700 Kg), and have it approved on the rego. The air bags are NOT there for lift. Just stability. You just take so much extra stuff when you travel solo. And don't forget the second fridge as a freezer for the ice blocks in the deserts!! I love doing that with the temp at 40 plus and the tourists getting out of the hot bus next to us. You can just "see" the words "can I have one?". Love it!!

Phil

Yes, ice cream in dessert is a luxury I also wouldn't be without, bottom line in my case though was car was simply driven on outback roads, car was not abused just simply couldn't handle what it should be able to do without an issue. If you look at the metal Toyota have used it is paper thin, you can bend it with your fingers, no wonder it fatigues and cracks.

In my KIA sportage the metal in the same area would be 10 times thicker than the Prado and the KIA has the same ladder chassis setup.

Anyway this is getting a bit far off topic so will let it go there.

Forgot to add, vehicle has not been repaired as my vehicle servicer (non Toyota) have told me they have never seen one that has been successfully repaired and has not cracked again.

When I get time will be taking vehicle to Toyota for them to look at and when they refuse to repair it will be off to consumer protection it seems

I tried to be generic and not accuse anyone of abusing a car. Just saying that some are gentler than others.

Best of luck with the warranty claim.

The metal will be as thick as is necessary to satisfy engineering standards and as thin and possible to make an extra quid for the shareholders. A fact of the capitalist society that we belong to.

I am way OT, so will leave it at that. Catchya

Phil

Phil, sorry to be a bit OT, but what size fuse do you use for the fridge? I'd love to do a tidy up of under bonnet electrics with something like your fuse box. I currently have separate auto reset circuit breakers for my fridge and rear Anderson plug. Thanks, Rob.

Hi Rob

The circuit to the rear of the cabin is a capable of 40 amps, but is fused at 30 amps. Each fridge is fused independently with an internal thermal fuse in it's cigarette lighter style posi-fit plug. I don't know the values. Both cables and plugs are as purchased with the fridges. I always carry a spare cable so don't need to worry about this thermal fuse. I will just swap cables if there is an issue. No problems so far!

This circuit also powers a couple of lights in the annex to our roof top tent that extends over the rear door and out the rear of the car.

Phil

I meant to add;

I am not in favour of resetable circuit breakers I would rather fix the fault and use a fuse. If a fuse blows there is a problem and it should be attended to. Otherwise things may get worse and you could end up with a fire etc etc.

Just like a tooth ache. A pain killer tablet wont fix the tooth which will only get worse and maybe even poisonous.

Phil

Thanks Phil. I take your point about the dangers of autoreset circuit breakers, and it would be a nice solution to use that sort of fuse box for the whole job. Cheers.

Also not sure about "luck of the Draw"!!

But I've had 2 Prados, 1 V6 and the last one a D4D Diesel. Petrol had no bull bar but an ARB dual battery system...no cracks...2nd one Diesel had ARB steel bar ARB battery tray...no cracks!! And both did more than 300k each, both on and off road, and lots of long corrugated roads included.

Cheers
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